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[Kagey K]

Welcome to the Dead Rising chat,

Heavily influenced by George Romero.

Frank West has covered wars and goes into small town Colorado to uncover the new story.

Instead he finds himself stuck at a mall, while waiting for the military to help him out.

DR2,

Our new protagonist Chuck finds his wife eaten and has to take ownership of his daughter.

They stop over for a pit stop in Case Zero, before moving into DR2 where Chuck finds himself doing TV game shows to make money for his daughters meds.

What makes these 2 games great is that you are supposed to try and fail, almost like Rougelikes of years before.

Then we have the psychopaths. Years before The Walking Dead was a thing, the director of Dead Rising said other humans would be the worst part of the apocalypse and he was right.

The great thing with these games was the silliness, tied to the human tragedy. And how they can be entwined.


There is no better ongoing horror tragedy than what happened to those in Fortune City and Willamette.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

The original Dead Rising might be my all time favorite game as far as what I enjoy playing the most goes.

There's other games that I would pick as number 1 because of story and the like, but if you had me just focus on the game part then Dead Rising might be my number 1.

There's just something about the premise of running around a zombie invested shopping mall that I find endlessly fun, at soon as I laid eyes on the game during E3 2005 I was transfixed, even in it's earlier, rougher form I could see the potential in the premise.

Over a year of being incredibly hyped for the game, just as hyped as I had ever been hyped for a game and it finally came out and completely lived up to my expectations, no other game had I been as hyped for has managed to live up to my expectations as much.

These days I like how the game is a wonderful snapshot of mid-00s American culture through the lens of Japan and I like how solid it holds up graphically, it's still a very handsome game that is still as fun for me to play as it was 15 years ago.

Capcom was really on fucking fire for a 5 year period there, from Devil May Cry in 2001 to Dead Rising in 2006, which marked the end of that golden age, just phenomenal stuff.

None of the sequels managed to recapture that same magic although I liked 2 a lot, but I wasn't digging 3, never finished it and have stayed away from 4, it's a shame it couldn't have been more successful as a franchise, but imo the first game works pretty well as a standalone story.

 

[Kagey K]

Every year around this time I find myself going back to these 2 games.

You are right that in pure gameplay fun, there are no games that come close to it.

Whether it’s about maximizing time to save survivors, or figuring out how to most efficiently kill zombies, it gives you all the tools to play as you’d like.

The claustrophobia. Combined with the Psychopaths lead to some interesting situations.

 

[bender]

It's too bad the sequels were outsourced. The Japanese quirk from the original was never replicated and the series quickly lost its' charm.

 

[Kagey K]

It's too bad the sequels were outsourced. The Japanese quirk from the original was never replicated and the series quickly lost its' charm.

Dead Rising 2, seemed to have all the qualities to make it more successful, and I think it is a great game.

But it’s hard to keep holding the line from the game before it.

Dead Risimg started the regime of zombie games in that gen to the point that everyone said they were tired of zombies.

Had it never come we might have never seen the zombie genre so full of games. After all what was the last good zombie game prior to it?

 

[kanjobazooie]

I replay each game in the series yearly, including 4 (which I thought was a good game).
DR1 was mind-blowing to me when it came out because it was pretty much a dream game. Now I look at it more objectively, but I still appreciate it for being so special.

I've been saying for years that the series needs a hard reboot.
Instead of going bigger like 3 and 4 did, go small. Reduce the number of zombies, the map size, the items, and then craft a brand new experience that basically reinvents and improves DR1.
It's easier said than done, but I'm sure Capcom can find the right team to give the series a new life.

Of course, in the end it all depends on whether they see DR worthy of the investment or not. Not to mention that drastic changes aren't always met with positive reception. It's a tricky situation that a very unique series is stuck in, but I'll still welcome any type of sequel because I really love DR.

 

[BadBurger]

I tried playing the first way back when. Maybe I was just an impetuous youth at the time but I couldn't get past the timer and repetitive nature of the game. I just wanted to play in that open world at my own pace, know what I mean?

 

[STARSBarry]

Hmm... can you imagine a modern remake for modern hardware, remove all the load areas so the map is a real place where the zombie swarm is saved real time, so if you clear out an area it needs to be refilled by the dead shuffling over from other areas.

I really enjoyed the second game especially its none canonical improved version with Frank West back at the helm. Just something about the series was better than other zombie games, although I know alot of people where put off by the clock.

 

[GymWolf]

If was fun for 5 or so hours with some friends and ganja, but i hated how the game was structured and killing mindless zombies can get boring after a while, never really liked the franchise that much.

 

[JimmyRustler]

Replayed the first one not long ago on the PS5 years after the 360 and though that either my memory played tricks on me or the game didn't age well at all. There are a huge amount of insanely frustrating moments in this game...

I only played 2 afterards, thought it was much worse than the first one and than shelved the series generally after 3 was an Xbox eclusive.

 

[ParaSeoul]

Hope we get some kind of reboot thats closer to the first game. Wonder if RE Engine would be suitable.

 

[Gameplaylover]

The first and only game i bought a console for. Totally worth it, love DR.

 

[MasterDerico]

I love Dead Rising series, i have them all!
Imo, 1 and 2 are the best ones, 3 is great (the capcom dlc is a joy to play) and 4 it's just meh fun.

 

[Kev Kev]

DR1 was amazing. I played the shit out of it. Sometimes I would start a new game, ignore the timer (a lot of people don’t realize you can do that) and just create a barricade in a random shop, fortifying it with random objects and see how long I could keep the crowd of zombies from getting though.

And there’s so much more to play around with, not to mention actually playing the game (doing missions and trying to stay ahead of the timer) is actually really fun, it just takes a few tries to figure out the right moves, places to go, psychos to fight and things to avoid in order to beat it. But I really enjoyed that.

But like I said, you can ignore the timer completely and just go crazy killing zombies if you want. Only thing is there will be a couple sections of the mall blocked off, and if you want to open them up, all you have to do is the first few missions and then you’ll be able to access those too, at which point you can continue ignore the timer, now with the mall fully unlocked.

 

[Rickyiez]

I tried playing the first way back when. Maybe I was just an impetuous youth at the time but I couldn't get past the timer and repetitive nature of the game. I just wanted to play in that open world at my own pace, know what I mean?

Take away the timer and the game became "just another zombie game"

 

[Kagey K]

I tried playing the first way back when. Maybe I was just an impetuous youth at the time but I couldn't get past the timer and repetitive nature of the game. I just wanted to play in that open world at my own pace, know what I mean?

The first one wasn’t without problems, (most notably it’s hard AF aiming and brain dead survivor AI) but I consider both of those faults part of the difficulty.

I wonder how different the game could have been if they refined those when they did the remasters.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

First game was great with problems, second game was very good but the self awareness with the references and fan service was cringe.

Never played 3 or 4. Am I missing out? I know I'm not on 4.

 

[SkylineRKR]

The first one is absolutely great. I had a blast beating it on PS4. The controls are dated, but it took me a few minutes to adjust. The survivor AI is very bad but to the point I didn't really give much shits if one died. The game can be considered roguelike of sorts, even though I didn't knew the genre in 2006. It felt you had to die a few times in the beginning, being so weak and all still.

The overtime mode didn't hold up well, the part through the crowd is terrible and the boss was just awful.

 

[kunonabi]

I swear if it wasn't for the damn respawning convicts the first DR would be GOAT caliber for sure. Freaking love that game.

 

[Tuff McNutt]

I like 2 (both versions) the best, though I fully admit to cheating/cheesing the game by grinding the first part to level up the character quite a bit before starting the game proper.

 

[Krappadizzle]

I swear if it wasn't for the damn respawning convicts the first DR would be GOAT caliber for sure. Freaking love that game.

That really was such an annoying thing about the first game. I loved almost everything about that, but the thought of going through that courtyard again and fighting those stupid convicts was so annoying.

Dead Rising on the 360 really felt like a great example of next-gen at the time. I remember I had a buddy in the military who had an SD TV and he was so annoyed with DR because he couldn't read any of the text.

 

[bender]

I like 2 (both versions) the best, though I fully admit to cheating/cheesing the game by grinding the first part to level up the character quite a bit before starting the game proper.

Part of the fun. With every new version of Dead Rising I play, I go for the Zombie Genocider achievement right out of the gate.

 

[Vaelka]

It's too bad the sequels were outsourced. The Japanese quirk from the original was never replicated and the series quickly lost its' charm.

Reminds me of the attempt at a DMC reboot.

Whenever they get outsourced the comedy kinda just falls apart and it tends to feel like they're trying too hard.
I kinda feel like this is a problem in the West in general, the same goes with cartoony games where now it sorta feels like it's either photorealistic and ultra serious, or it's 4kids toilet humor and calarts artstyles.
I know that there's exceptions too but even the exceptions tend to take themselves too seriously and lean too much into trying to be '' realistic ''.

Dante just turned into an edgelord and the story took itself way too seriously and tried to be '' relevant '' and don't even get me started on Vergil.
The Supermarket boss in Dead Rising 1 is a great example too of a hilarious character that doesn't feel forced, he's actually played pretty seriously without feeling intentionally goofy and it makes him funnier.
Same with the Clown.
The comedy is very over the top but it still feels '' adult '', because it's not so extremely on the nose about '' LOOK AT THIS IT'S A HAHA MOMENT PLEASE LAUGH ''.

 

[haxan7]

I recently started playing it again and I had to stop when I unlocked the stupid dodge roll.

 

[rofif]

Amazing game. The best pure zombie game

 

[Kagey K]

I just finished DR2 again last night. I'm about to restart 3 (which I've never beat) All I really remember about 3 is it felt more like you were supposed to destroy all zombies instead of avoiding them like the 1st 2.

 

[Kagey K]

Part of the fun. With every new version of Dead Rising I play, I go for the Zombie Genocider achievement right out of the gate.

The Mega Man gun you get in 1 is worth it. Makes all boss fights trivial.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

I recently started playing it again and I had to stop when I unlocked the stupid dodge roll.

One of the few complaints normies make I can understand. You push to rush twice and BAM. Wish there was an ability toggle but alas.

 

[Kagey K]

I like 2 (both versions) the best, though I fully admit to cheating/cheesing the game by grinding the first part to level up the character quite a bit before starting the game proper.

I’ll admit I’ve never played Case West or Off the Record. Something I plan on fixing right after I finish DR3.

 

[haxan7]

One of the few complaints normies make I can understand. You push to rush twice and BAM. Wish there was an ability toggle but alas.

I'm not sure if my controller is busted or it's the game itself. I can barely move at all without dodge rolling. I rage quit pretty fast because of it - i'll have to go back and give it another shot to see if i can get Frank to move without divebombing into oblivion.

 

[Tiamat2san]

Dead rising was my dream game coming to life.
One of the best games ever made.
Fantastic.

 

[Orta]

DR1 was the game that I wanted a 360 for, never did so bought it on Steam years later. But never played it

What's all this about a timer I'm reading about? Is the game mission based with a time limit in effect?

 

[Kagey K]

DR1 was the game that I wanted a 360 for, never did so bought it on Steam years later. But never played it

What's all this about a timer I'm reading about? Is the game mission based with a time limit in effect?

Everything is done on the clock. There’s a limited amount of time before the rescue comes and you have to solve cases, to figure out what happened before that time. Also survivors have a limited amount of time to get rescued before they perish to the horde.

It makes sense once you are in the game, but in DR1 effective time management is very important if you want to try to do everything.

Also when you are first starting don’t worry if you fail or miss something, you want to level Frank up a bit and restart to try and do better.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Dead Rising WAS the MAIN reason why I wanted an Xbox 360. It made me want the system ASAP to have it by the time it launched.

Surprisingly, I was able to get a console before the game dropped, and got it at launch. I was so incredibly happy.

I loved the game SO much. Went on to love 2 as well, and even 3, though not as much. Never gave what came after a real shot though, for what I would hope are obvious reasons.

It's a shame because the IP definitely kept on plummeting with each iteration, and I firmly believe that Capcom easily could've handled it SO much better.

I'd absolutely LOVE to see a good and proper return to the IP, but I won't get my hopes up.

 

[SkylineRKR]

I love the time management. It felt next-gen to me when the game released, everything goes on, nothing is on pause (except for some scripted parts I guess). So you can miss entire things or sometimes you have to choose if time is low on 2 things. You'll want to plan escort routes ahead. Its roguelike ish as I said before, so if you fuck up starting over isn't much of a nuisance, you're stronger and you'll eventually blitz through the mall anyway.

I swear if it wasn't for the damn respawning convicts the first DR would be GOAT caliber for sure. Freaking love that game.

They become a joke later on, and a good source of points. But I think there is a shortcut at the bathroom that lets you skip them entirely. I think you needed to save up some survivors for that point, or just kill them quickly with some good weaponry. If you frag the driver they're sitting ducks.

 

[NeverYouMind]

DR1 was amazing. I played the shit out of it. Sometimes I would start a new game, ignore the timer (a lot of people don’t realize you can do that) and just create a barricade in a random shop, fortifying it with random objects and see how long I could keep the crowd of zombies from getting though.

And there’s so much more to play around with, not to mention actually playing the game (doing missions and trying to stay ahead of the timer) is actually really fun, it just takes a few tries to figure out the right moves, places to go, psychos to fight and things to avoid in order to beat it. But I really enjoyed that.

But like I said, you can ignore the timer completely and just go crazy killing zombies if you want. Only thing is there will be a couple sections of the mall blocked off, and if you want to open them up, all you have to do is the first few missions and then you’ll be able to access those too, at which point you can continue ignore the timer, now with the mall fully unlocked.

There is a SURVIVAL mode in the game for more free form gaming.

First game was great with problems, second game was very good but the self awareness with the references and fan service was cringe.

Never played 3 or 4. Am I missing out? I know I'm not on 4.

I would say you are missing out on DR3. It has sprinting from the start, you can combo weapons on the fly, and you can grab blueprints for combo weapons instead of waiting to reach a certain level. In that sense it is a mechanically better version of DR2, but base weapons are great unlike in DR2. The main character is a bit of a wet towel, but the supporting cast and open world (with abundant weapons and vehicles) are fantastic. Also, he can be customized to a ridiculous degree. Overall, it is like The Return of the Living Dead relative to the Dawn of the Dead. This one is a more campy, fun, and lower quality art project that is still very enjoyable. There is nothing quite like combining a traffic light and gasoline to become a fire wizard, combining a battery with a Blanka mask to become Blanka (Street Fighter II), or speeding through a highway full of zombies on a motorcycle spewing flames.

The Mega Man gun you get in 1 is worth it. Makes all boss fights trivial.

I disagree. It is a chore to get and gets boring fast as it doesn't have the explosiveness of higher caliber guns or physical dominance of most melee weapons. After upgrades, even fighting unarmed is more fun than the blaster.

That really was such an annoying thing about the first game. I loved almost everything about that, but the thought of going through that courtyard again and fighting those stupid convicts was so annoying.

Dead Rising on the 360 really felt like a great example of next-gen at the time. I remember I had a buddy in the military who had an SD TV and he was so annoyed with DR because he couldn't read any of the text.

They get stuck between objects so often that you can walk up to them and start using melee weapons. Once the gunner is dispatched, the rest of the inmates are sitting ducks. They even leave you a nice PP bonus, a Gatling gun, and a jeep. To zoom past the courtyard there are skateboards you can pick up in the sports store on the second floor past the stairs to your right when you first exit the storage room. Beyond that the bathroom shortcut you unlock after beating the clown and escorting the survivor to safety is the fastest way to get anywhere in the mall.

---

I would love for Capcom to do a remake of Dead Rising 2 as it has my favorite story in the franchise, but also the weakest gameplay. The slow speed of Chuck (even when upgraded) that requires one to chug mixed Speed drinks, the inconvenience of finding a work bench for combo weapons, and the nerfs to base weapons and move sets (including unarmed) make it the hardest to go back to. Also, it sucks that Mission Zero and Case West are relegated to the Xbox 360 despite being part of the main story.

 

[SkylineRKR]

haha bare handed is awesome. I think you can powerbomb, suplex and swing zombies around and much more. Learning to walk on top of zombies is crucial too. Man, I almost want to do another run.

 

[Nickolaidas]

Can you imagine the outcry from the REEEEEEEEEE crowd if Dead Rising was made TODAY and had THIS scene?

 

[Kagey K]

I would love for Capcom to do a remake of Dead Rising 2 as it has my favorite story in the franchise, but also the weakest gameplay. The slow speed of Chuck (even when upgraded) that requires one to chug mixed Speed drinks, the inconvenience of finding a work bench for combo weapons, and the nerfs to base weapons and move sets (including unarmed) make it the hardest to go back to. Also, it sucks that Mission Zero and Case West are relegated to the Xbox 360 despite being part of the main story.

Case Zero and Case West are both BC. Unless I’m misunderstanding and your saying you’d like them updated similar to the triple pack.

 

[Kagey K]

Can you imagine the outcry from the REEEEEEEEEE crowd if Dead Rising was made TODAY and had THIS scene?

My favorite Psycho in the series. What she planned on doing with that nightstick…..

 

[NeverYouMind]

Case Zero and Case West are both BC. Unless I’m misunderstanding and your saying you’d like them updated similar to the triple pack.

I want a complete version on PC with balancing changes and quality of life changes otherwise there is no point in a re-release.

---

P.S. The Survival mode in DR1 is called Infinity Mode and is unlocked after beating the main game.

 

[ReBurn]

I was in love with the first game on Xbox 360. I don't think I had experienced anything quite like it. Beating zombies with guitars, man. It was wild.

There was so much that I loved about the start on the PS360 generation. I want more experiences like that.

 

[NeverYouMind]

haha bare handed is awesome. I think you can powerbomb, suplex and swing zombies around and much more. Learning to walk on top of zombies is crucial too. Man, I almost want to do another run.

My favorites in DR1 are the knee drop and dismemberment. The knee drop because it is a god send against bosses and mitigates damage on a large fall. The dismemberment because it one shots all non-boss enemies including soldiers. It makes Rambo with his knife look like a pussy.

In DR3, the swing you can perform once prompted can take out dozens of zombies faster than most weapons.

 

[Camreezie]

One of my favourite games of all time , wish they would sort the series out I'd even take a reboot. Maybe infaune could steer it back on track

 

[TwiztidElf]

When my wife hears Adams mini-chainsaws BZZZZ, BZZZZZ, BZZZZ, she's like "Really? You're playing that game again????" lol.
Definitely in my personal top ten GOAT list.

 

[Kev Kev]

There is a SURVIVAL mode in the game for more free form gaming.

in survival mode there is a psycho in each zone of the game, which is not ideal for someone who just wants to run around and kill zombies. so playing 72 hour mode, while ignoring the story, is the best way for them to do that

 

[Cryio]

Along with plenty other franchises, Dead Rising has been for me something like "this looks cool, maybe I'll try it one day".

Is this game fun? Is it repetitive? Some people swear by it. I'm still interested in it. Also, why does Dead Rising 1 have ... 1-2 expansions that seems to be the same game but with a different protagonist?

EDIT: Typed Dead Space instead of Dead Rising, lel, Freudian slip.

 

[BadBurger]

Take away the timer and the game became "just another zombie game"

Were there even other zombie games back then? All I can think of is Resident Evil, but those played completely differently.

 

[Bridges]

This series was one of the greatest. DR1 and DR2 (and Off The Record) are incredible, it's a shame where the series ended up.

What really made the games what they were was stripped away with each entry. Those first two games are almost like roguelikes, replaying the game with new knowledge and skills until you become competent enough to make it to the end, and with the time management aspect you had to make a lot of tough calls but could see something new in each playthrough.

In 3 the timer is a nonfactor and 4 it's not even a mechanic, those games have no replayability as there's nothing stopping you from seeing basically all there is to see on the first go.

I would really like for a new studio to take a crack at this and bring it back to its roots. Focus on a smaller indoor environment with unlockable shortcuts. Focus on memorable psychopaths and survivors and don't care so much about all the combo weapon stuff or mowing down thousands of zombies (both of these are fine but as the series went on it got completely ridiculous, almost Dynasty Warriors levels of mindlessness).

 

[Kagey K]

Going straight from 2 to 3 really shows the contrast and differences from the first 2.

I much prefer the denser world of the 2 malls to the open world of 3. There’s just too much area with a bunch of collectibles and not a lot of interesting places.

Also the survivors sending you on fetch quests is more than mildly annoying. I know there were a couple like that in the first 2 games, but it feels like everyone wants you to do something before they will join now.

Im going to stick through it, as I’ve never actually beat 3 but all I can think is I want to get it done so I can go back and finally start Off the Record.

I‘ve owned it for years, but never actually even seen the title screen for it.